No Man Should Have All That Power

by Tumi Molekane, image by Marcel Benjamin / 25.11.2010

Today, 25th November, is International Day of No Violence Against Women, it kicks off the 16 Days of Activism campaign. Recently South Africa has seen a series of disturbing headlines concerning the way women are treated. Most recently the video recording of pupils allegedly being gang raped on school grounds. I was provoked by this. I hope you are unsettled.

To every girl I cheated on
Disrespected, beat on, called a whore,
Peed on, had sex with illegal, put hands on
Raped, slapped, love you, didn’t say it back,
Ladies I disappointed lied to and misinformed,
If you cry, I’ll listen for you
Now I am living for you
To every sister annoyed, pissed with these ignorant boys
That took what you build, destroyed
I’ll dream what my son draws, a pencil stick happy home
And sing what you’ve come for

No one man should have all that power
We put our seeds into school they get deflowered
From sweet sixteen to 20 something sour
When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

I shine my Thomas Edison on this heart-wrenching incident
Butt naked telling it, like surely there’s some better men
Looking at my reflection, cracking on better inspection
What all these headlines mention, is a judgment not just a sentence
Don’t examine the evidence
That is just irrelevant
Cuz Akona’s testament implicates my better sense
I wanna kill that specimen, hang him from a leather belt
But then again, it’s probably best to raise a gentleman
So when he turns fourteen he’d be the one protecting her
And when they talk orgies it wouldn’t make sense to him
But that’s later, this is now, the part to play is big and proud
Brave heart, love the scars away speak it out aloud

No one man should have all that power
You put your hands on a woman, are you a coward?
Lady that’s not your shame, that there is ours
When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

Can we march, picket, shout, scream,
Pass a law; wipe clean all her bloody bad dreams
Call Miss Patricia De lille, fix the ill, Helen Zille
J. Malema, help us heal
If JZ’s not with us he cannot get elected still
DJ Fresh, play a tune, make me forget it’s painful
Can we affect a change too, so sex doesn’t scare you?

I wanna kiss your earlobe, whisper you my hero
Take you out to party people where the music isn’t lethal
I am T from the V
That means my speech isn’t speech bro
You don’t have be Jules High
To have to sink to these lows,
That act is old De Niro
Apartheid Ghost, Lesilo
Adapted to the evil, we are drawn to it Zapiro

No one man should have all that power
We put our seeds into school they get deflowered
From sweet sixteen to 20 something sour
When Mandela dies, who gone really care about us

To every girl I cheated on
Disrespected, beat on, called a whore,
Peed on, had sex with illegal, put hands on
Raped, slapped, love you, didn’t say it back,
Ladies I disappointed lied to and misinformed,
If you cry, I’ll listen for you
Now I am living for you
To every sister annoyed, pissed with these ignorant boys
That took what you build, destroyed
I’ll dream what my son draws, a pencil stick happy home
And sing what you’ve come for

So if you fed up with it
Everybody do the power clap
Clap! Clap! Clap!

Help your sister bare witness
Everybody do the power clap
Clap! Clap! Clap!

You’d better be standing aint no sitting down
When we do the power clap
Clap! Clap! Clap!

Hate the act, love the child
Everybody do the power clap
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

Tumi:
Thank you for being brave, saying what needs to be said
In a way that we, the youth of SA will understand
I hope a million more men walk in your footseps
Or better yet, that you open doors for many more to follow
That way, we don’t need to worry when iconic leaders pass away
Because there will a million more leaders to show us the way.

Luv this song. Thanks for the free download! About the Thomas Edison line I’m assuming Tumi meant to substitute for ‘light’ in ‘I shine my Thomas Edison on this wrenching heart incident.’ Even if Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb he did create a longer lasting light bulb so maybe Tumi wants to shine a powerful, magnifying light on this tragedy. Some really deep lyrics though. Y’all should read I Said No by Akhona Ndungane (that’s part of where the inspiration to write this comes from).
Link: http://minilicious.wordpress.com/2010/11/11/i-said-no/

This is magnificent. Tumi is so special, I love his heart. He might never be considered the best, or the most fresh or what ever but he is the most intuitive musician in South Africa. He has written some of the most powerful pieces about this country. Yvonne, 76, Signs, ask you mommy, bravo